In Hollywood, it usually takes a little while for a new box office record-breaker to emerge,
but it does happen eventually.
Right now, Avengers: Endgame holds the crown…but for how long?
Here's a look at some of the upcoming movies that might just be able to cut short Endgame's
all-time reign.
It's pretty much a certainty that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be one of the year's
biggest releases.
While Star Wars is one of the highest-grossing franchises in American history, only A New
Hope ever reached the top spot to become the highest grossing movie worldwide.
A lot has happened since 1977, with international grosses playing a much bigger role in a film's
performance.
And while Star Wars certainly is as ubiquitous as ever, the two most recent films in the
series didn't quite hit Endgame levels at either the domestic or international box office.
The spinoff Solo: A Star Wars Story underwhelmed financially, while 2017's The Last Jedi made
$620 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide, which is pretty damned impressive
to be sure, but it's still less than its predecessor The Force Awakens, and far less than Endgame.
Throughout the nine-film, three-trilogy Skywalker Saga, a pattern has tended to emerge: in which
the second film in each trilogy dips domestically before the final installment dominates the
box office.
However, to top the numbers worldwide, you need a strong international showing, and Star
Wars' foreign totals typically just aren't as great as the MCU's.
For example, while The Force Awakens is the highest-grossing domestic release ever, it's
only fourth worldwide.
So while The Rise of Skywalker may very well top Avengers: Endgame at the domestic box
office, it looks like a long shot to set the worldwide record.
The Jurassic Park franchise has always been a stalwart showing at the box office, so what
are Jurassic World 3's chances of topping Endgame when it opens in June 2021?
Well, Jurassic Park was the highest-grossing film ever worldwide until Titanic took the
top spot.
And while the later instalments in the first trilogy opened to more tepid reactions, Jurassic
World set a record for opening weekend and enjoyed a stunning final gross of $652 million
domestic and almost $1.7 billion worldwide.
"Life, uh, finds a way."
Its sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, didn't do quite as well, however, although
it's probably fair to say Universal isn't crying about its $1.3 billion global take.
All in all, the Jurassic franchise seems to be following an all-too-familiar pattern.
Audiences flock to the first one, but once the novelty has worn off, the grosses get
smaller and smaller.
Don't expect to see the Jurassic series go extinct anytime soon, but don't expect it
to gobble up Earth's Mightiest Heroes, either.
Avengers 5 doesn't have a title, a storyline, or even a release date.
Heck, it's not even a part of Marvel's Phase 4, as far as anyone knows.
And yet it's one of the most anticipated movies in the near future, if for no other reason
than it follows the record-smashing Avengers: Endgame.
Whatever form Avengers 5 takes, a few things are certain: namely that some of Endgame's
biggest stars will be nowhere in sight.
So don't expect Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, or Josh Brolin to show
up.
The real question is, then, whether Avengers 5 will have the same draw without these cornerstone
characters?
Of course, it's possible.
Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man have each made bank at the box office, and
you know the studio will pull no punches in making Avengers 5 just as big an event as
its predecessor.
But whether it's enough, and whether Marvel's lightning can strike twice, well, that remains
to be seen.
Of course, it's entirely possible that it won't take every Avenger to top Endgame's
gross.
Maybe it'll only take one, Black Panther.
Thanks to its insane $700 million domestic gross, Black Panther is the highest-grossing
solo superhero movie, with a take-in of $1.3 billion worldwide.
That's bigger than anything put out by any other superhero, ever.
Clearly Black Panther scratched an itch.
So what does that mean for a sequel?
With the notable exceptions of Iron Man 2 and Avengers: Age of Ultron, just about every
MCU sequel has made more than the previous film, both domestically and worldwide.
That means the sky seems to be the limit for the King of Wakanda's future adventures, but
the question is, just how high can he go?
Can Black Panther's historic gross be bettered with its sequel?
Or was the record-breaking gross of Black Panther the consequence of a perfect storm
of culture and cross-promotion colliding?
Much like Avengers 5, the title, storyline and complete cast for this sequel are still
unknown, and all anyone knows is that it's due for release on May 6th 2022.
But what we do know is that, while Black Panther's domestic take was historic, its overseas grosses
were a little lower than other Marvel movies.
To really outdo Endgame, Black Panther II is going to have to up its international game
considerably.
If any single superhero can take down Earth's Mightiest Heroes, it's gonna be Batman.
Arguably the most popular costumed vigilante on the big screen, Batman's combined domestic
gross is $2.4 billion.
If we adjust that for inflation, given most Batman movies came out more than 10 years
ago, it's $3.5 billion.
This is also the only franchise to break the opening weekend record four times, although
no Batman movie has been the highest-grossing film ever, domestically or worldwide.
"All you care about is money.
This town deserves a better class of criminal.
And I'm gonna give it to them."
The biggest hit in the franchise, The Dark Knight, made $533 million domestically, placing
it second behind Titanic in North America.
The Dark Knight's worldwide take, however, barely makes the top 50 at just over $1 billion.
Ever since The Dark Knight Rises, Batman has kind of been in a dry spell, but The Batman
hopes to change that when it opens on June 25th 2021.
The movie's connection to the DCEU is unclear, but it promises to be a complete reboot for
the character, and the last reboot in the series, Batman Begins, performed well, setting
the stage for the record-breaking Dark Knight.
And sure, there's been a little fan backlash after Robert Pattinson's casting in the title
role, but fans protested Michael Keaton's casting, too.
Shows what they know.
Indiana Jones 5, scheduled for a July 9th 2021 release, is shrouded in more secrecy
than the Ark of the Covenant itself.
But what can we expect from its box office performance?
Indiana Jones' total domestic gross is just over $906 million.
And while that might seem unimpressive, adjusted for inflation, that comes to $2.1 billion
domestically across just four films, which is pretty incredible.
Still, it's hard to gauge how Indy will do in a new environment driven by international
grosses.
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made $317 million stateside and $786
million worldwide in 2008.
Not great, but not bad, although as we saw with Star Wars: The Force Awaken's historic
run, fans really, really like seeing Harrison Ford playing his most iconic characters.
"It's not the years, hon.
It's the mileage."
And while Indy has never been quite at the level of Lucasfilm's golden goose from the
galaxy far, far away, it's still a franchise that enjoys a rock solid place in pop culture
history.
Indy 5 might not be a front-runner for becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time, but
it might just become the highest-grossing Indy film worldwide, and could well make enough
money for Disney to fill up a whole Temple of Doom.
The Skywalker Saga isn't the only Star Wars-related media Disney has slated for release over the
next few years, far from it.
Currently, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are working on a Star
Wars trilogy, while The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is working on his own, too.
On top of that, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige is developing a film for the studio.
All in all, the studio has Star Wars films booked through the next decade, trading holiday
release dates with Avatar sequels in a bid to dominate the universe, one December at
a time.
It's doubtful that Disney needs or even cares if any of these films break away to become
the biggest of all time.
Sure, they wouldn't complain if any of them did, but that's not exactly the goal.
The real goal, however, is to replicate the MCU's multi-franchise formula.
And while that sounds good in theory, Solo proved that you can't make bank just by slapping
the Star Wars name on it.
Still, with a slew of talent behind these upcoming movies, plus the influence of the
man who made Marvel what it is today, LucasFilm could find themselves raking in the credits
very, very soon.
James Cameron has been teasing the expansion of his Avatar franchise for so long that most
fans have gone Na'vi blue in the face by now.
Cameras have finally started rolling on no fewer than four Avatar sequels, at a total
cost of $1 billion.
That may seem like a crazy investment on a franchise that'll be 12 years old by the time
the next one arrives in 2021, but this is Avatar, after all: until July 2019, it was
the highest-grossing film ever worldwide, and it remains the highest-grossing overseas.
Heck, the first Avatar sequel could bomb and the franchise would still be one of the biggest
ever based on the first film's performance alone.
But that's unlikely to happen.
The past decade has seen many pundits predicting Cameron's Avatar sequels will fail, mostly
stemming from the fact that Avatar doesn't have the same hold on pop culture as say,
Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.
And that may be so, but once that first trailer hits, finally showcasing whatever CG-induced
fever dream Cameron has cooked up, you can bet your bottom dollar that fans will be pre-ordering
their tickets in their droves.
But hey, why start from scratch?
Who says an Avatar sequel has to top Avengers: Endgame when Avatar already has a head start?
Less than $10 million separates Avatar and Endgame, so if Avatar were to be re-released
to build anticipation for its sequels, there's a solid chance it would take its record back.
Rereleasing films is nothing new, though it hasn't been as common a thing since the arrival
of home entertainment and on-demand streaming services.
But what's a little friendly competition when a world record is at stake?
The only problem is, since Disney purchased Fox, Disney would be responsible for the reissue,
meaning they'd be competing with themselves.
Disney obviously wanted Endgame to take the record, hence the decision to re-release the
movie a few months after release with just a few minutes of extra footage.
Now that they've done it, why would they turn around and have Avatar usurp it?
Money matters, but pride counts too.
Now that Disney owns Fox, expect Avatar to stay right where it is: firmly behind Avengers:
Endgame.
Nobody would have predicted James Cameron's movie about the sinking of a big boat would
become the highest-grossing movie ever.
Even fewer predicted that Cameron would top his own record with an original sci-fi film
about space marines fighting 12-foot blue aliens.
Yes, everybody knew Endgame was going to own the box office, but nobody predicted that
C-List superhero Iron Man would spawn history's most successful franchise, either.
So who knows what could happen in the future?
Despite the endless data and analytics that go into every Hollywood movie, which movies
hit big and which films flop hard really is anyone's guess.
Hollywood is knee-deep in the IP era, but as summer 2019 has proven, lots of moviegoers
are suffering from sequelitis.
Maybe the future highest-grossing film won't be a franchise entry at all, but an original
work?
Or maybe it'll be based on a popular book, or maybe, like Titanic, Gone with the Wind,
and so many huge box office hits before, it'll be some kind of epic historical romance.
Maybe the biggest hit won't even come from America.
With a gross of more than $700 million, 2019's seventh highest-grossing movie worldwide is
the Chinese film The Wandering Earth.
Could a foreign film become a breakout hit it in the U.S.?
As with all things, only time will tell.
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